Inside Microsoft’s HoloLens

Ever wondered what’s inside Microsoft’s HoloLens? We’ve all been doing the same. But while the inside of this contraption isn’t filled with substances from a particle accelerator, future users of the augmented reality device will be surprised to find out the device’s internals are are actually quite simple.

Mainly comprised of plastic and glass, the way HoloLens is constructed goes to show that this tech is probably based more on software than hardware, basically making the whole thing a Windows 10 PC that sits directly on your head. What’s more, the device is completely untethered and doesn’t require a wire to power itself, an impressive feat in its own right. We have to give Microsoft praise for managing to cram so much into this fairly small frame.

There are several sensors and lenses here and there, but surprisingly enough, the visor doesn’t appear to have much use outside of making the HoloLens look cool. Chances are, the visor is there to help protect the lenses from foreign matter like dust or that random Lego brick flying across the room. In addition, HoloLens packs a CPU, GPU, and an HPU, the processor that does the majority of the heavy lifting while the CPU and the GPU to focus on launching apps and showing the holograms. Microsoft decided to add three batteries to the device to power all this and although we’re not sure of their capacities, we do know these batteries should be able to power HoloLens for up to 2.5 hours.

It’s quite impressive, but users should realize that what is seen here will likely change before the consumer version is ready. We’re confident Microsoft can get the design to be much smaller and more comfortable than it is now.